Lost in longitude or confused by contour lines? Want to know all the tips and tricks for getting the most out of your atlas? Curious if paper towns still exist? "Ask a Cartographer" is your opportunity to get the facts straight from the source. Tom Vitacco, Rand McNally Publishing’s Director of GIS is here to answer your burning questions, and geek out over fascinating map lore – one exploration at a time.
This week, we're talking about the differences between our atlases and our road maps and how to find the best product for your needs.
Question: I have an old 2004 Road Atlas and I want to buy an updated map, but there are so many choices on your website. What is the difference between all the atlases and state maps?
Tom’s answer: Thank you for the question! It is definitely time to update your atlas since much has changed in the last 20 years. We do have a lot of choices for customers looking for the best state maps out there. I will try to explain the differences between our different atlases and state map options and provide some use cases and cartographic insights to help you choose the best product for your travel needs.
Rand McNally Publishing currently produces seven different road atlases and two types of individual state maps. You can review all of our products here. I will break down the differences below, but first I wanted to provide a little background on the map content in general to offer some cartographic information which might be useful to our customers.
Map Content
I have touched on this topic in previous posts, but it is worth repeating for context. Our cartographic team maintains a proprietary map database within a Geographic Information System (GIS) that we created from scratch which is used to produce all the road atlas and state map products. We update the database annually and we use attribution (or ranking) within the map database to tag all map content so it knows which product it should be displayed in.
We have three levels of map content we track in the map database. The image below illustrates this concept. The cropped images show the Austin area of Texas from the smaller format Easy to Read Road Atlas (left) with the least amount of map content, the regular Road Atlas (middle) with more map detail and the Texas State Easy to Read map (right) with the most content of all our Texas maps. You might notice a road in Texas shown on the Texas State Easy to Read map and the Road Atlas, but not the smaller Easy to Read Road Atlas because we reduce the amount of map content in that product due to map scale. The reduction of map content is controlled by our ranking attribution, allowing our cartographers to create many different products at varying map scales from our comprehensive map databases.
Pictured: Maps are the same across most atlases
Six of the seven road atlas products mentioned above use the exact same base maps. In any given year, the maps are all the same within the different atlases except the smaller format Easy to Read Road Atlas which contains more simplified maps. Some of the “large scale” atlases have larger versions of the maps to make them easier to read, but the base maps are identical. So, if you are considering an atlas purchase, please understand that the maps are the same across all the atlas products except the smaller atlas. Some are enlarged or have truck routes highlighted, but the map content is the same in all six “full-size” atlases. You are getting the same maps no matter which atlas you buy, and the choice really comes down to the format, size, binding and how you plan to use the atlas.
How to choose the right map
As I mentioned earlier, we produce seven different Road Atlas titles (shown below). The “Road Atlas” titles and the two types of individual state maps are really made for car travel while the “Motor Carriers’ Road Atlas” titles are produced for truck drivers or companies with a large fleet of trucks. Someone driving an RV could also benefit from the Motor Carriers’ atlases since an RV might follow truck designated routes as well.
For Planning Multi-State Road Trips
If you are traveling by car or just planning a trip and want a good reference atlas, the regular Road Atlas is a great choice or the Large Scale Road Atlas if you prefer an easier-to-read map that will lay flat because of the spiral binding. The Large Scale Road Atlas also includes a full city index at the back of the atlas.
For Planning National Park Trips
The Road Atlas & National Park Guide has the same set of maps as the regular Road Atlas with the addition of National Park related editorial content at the front of the atlas and a spiral binding. The smaller Easy to Read Road Atlas fits better in the car but with the reduced map content (less roads, cities, POIs and parks plus rest areas are not shown), this atlas is more of a general reference atlas and not as detailed as the larger atlases. So please keep this in mind when you are shopping for a new Road Atlas.
For Truck Drivers
If you are a truck driver, then the Motor Carriers’ atlases include the same maps as the Road Atlas with truck approved routes highlighted on the maps and weigh stations shown along with a bunch of truck related information in tables at the front and back of the atlas. The Deluxe version also has laminated pages and a spiral binding, and the Large Scale Motor Carriers’ version has larger maps that are easy to read as well as a spiral binding and laminated pages. The tables, charts and other content are the same within all three truck atlases.
For Traveling Within One State
In addition to the Road Atlas products, we also make individual state maps in two formats:
1. The Easy to Read titles (left below) with the red covers are printed on larger sheets of paper and have the most detailed map content of all the state maps.
2. The Easy to Fold titles (right below) with the blue covers are laminated and are very easy to fold back up, but the state map contains the same map content as the regular Road Atlas map and less detail than the Easy to Read titles. If you are only traveling to one state and prefer to carry the individual map instead of a Road Atlas, you can purchase one of these two state map formats.
The choice is yours and both are perfect reference maps for the individual states. Please note the state maps are printed at different times throughout the year compared to the Road Atlas titles so copyright dates vary.
Thanks again for the question. I am hoping this post will offer some clarity on the differences between our atlases and state maps and help you make an informed choice when you purchase one of our printed products.
Feel free to submit your map or cartography questions below and check back next Tuesday for another installment of "Ask a Cartographer".
Have a question for our cartographer? Email us at printproducts@randmcnally.com with “Ask a Cartographer” in the subject line and your question could be featured next.